CYTOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF METAPHASE I IN HYBRIDS BETWEEN TRITICUM TIMOPHEEVI ZHUK. AND T. DURUM DESF.

Abstract

In two hybrids between Triticum timopheevi Zhuk. and T. durum Desf., which have irregular meioses, metaphase I was subdivided into four developmental stages, early, medium, late, and very late. This subdivision was based on the presence in the anthers of other stages that occurred together with metaphase I. It was then discovered that in metaphase I cell populations there was a progressive increase of univalents from the early and medium stages to the very late stage. This phenomenon can be explained on the assumption that metaphase I is of shorter duration in the less irregular cells which pass into anaphase I earlier than the more irregular cells. As a consequence of this developmental phenomenon at metaphase I, the anaphase I and telophase I cells in the late anthers contained fewer lagging chromosomes than the anaphase I and telophase I cells in the very late anthers. Despite these numerical differences, the degrees of lagging were remarkably similar in both stages; approximately 70% of these univalents lagged at late and very late stages in both hybrids.During metaphase I many univalents of the irregular cells moved towards the equatorial plate, became oriented, and lagged at anaphase I and telophase I. It was found that the univalents of the least irregular cells accumulated somewhat faster at the plates than those of the more irregular cells.Considering the relationships between all of the available data, the hypothesis is advanced that when a certain number of univalents have accumulated at the equatorial plate a state of equilibrium is established and anaphase I is initiated. On the basis of this hypothesis an explanation of the trends observed at metaphase I is given.